Recruitment

1. 6-1 Recruitment

2. 6-2 ANNOTATED OUTLINE INTRODUCTION Recruitment is the process of locating and encouraging potential applicants to apply for existing or anticipated job openings • Certain influences, however, restrain a firm while choosing a recruiting source such as: • Poor image • Unattractive job • Conservative internal policies • Limited budgetary support • Restrictive policies of government

3. 6-3 Recruitment: matching the needs of applications and organisations

4. 6-4 Situational factors impacting recruitment The process of recruitment is influenced by a variety of environmental factors. • Economic factors • Social factors • Technological factors • Political factors • Legal factors • The Factories Act • The Apprentices Act • The Employment Exchanges Act • The Contract Labour Act • Bonded Labour System Act • The Child Labour Act

5. 6-5 Sources of Recruitment The sources of recruitment may broadly be divided into two categories: internal sources and external sources. Both have their merits and demerits.

6. 6-6 Merits and demerits of hiring people from within • Merits • (i) Economical: The cost of recruiting internal candidates is minimal. No expenses are incurred on advertising. • Suitable: The organisation can pick the right candidates having the requisite skills. The candidates can choose a right vacancy where their talents can be fully utilised. • (iii) Reliable: The organisation has knowledge about the suitability of a candidate for a position. ‘Known devils are better than unknown angels!’. • (iv) Satisfying: A policy of preferring people from within offers regular promotional avenues for employees. It motivates them to work hard and earn promotions. They will work with loyalty, commitment and enthusiasm. • Demerits • (i) Limited choice: The organisation is forced to select candidates from a limited pool. It may have to sacrifice quality and settle for less qualified candidates. • Inbreeding: It discourages entry of talented people, available outside an organisation. Existing employees may fail to behave in innovative ways and inject necessary dynamism to enterprise activities. • (iii) Inefficiency: Promotions based on length of service rather than merit, may prove to be a blessing for inefficient candidates. They do not work hard and prove their worth. • (iv) Bone of contention: Recruitment from within may lead to infighting among employees aspiring for limited, higher-level positions in an organisation. As years roll by, the race for premium positions may end up on a bitter note.

7. 6-7 Merits and demerits of hiring people from outside Merits Wide choice: The organisation has the freedom to select candidates from a large pool. Persons with requisite qualifications could be picked up. Injection of fresh blood: People with special skills and knowledge could be hired to stir up the existing employees and pave the way for innovative ways of working. Motivational force: It helps in motivating internal employees to work hard and compete with external candidates while seeking career growth. Such a competitive atmosphere would help an employee to work to the best of his abilities. Long term benefits: Talented people could join the ranks, new ideas could find meaningful expression, a competitive atmosphere would compel people to give of their best and earn rewards, etc. Demerits Expensive: Hiring costs could go up substantially. Tapping multifarious sources of recruitment is not an easy task, either. Time consuming: It takes time to advertise, screen, to test and to select suitable employees. Where suitable ones are not available, the process has to be repeated. Demotivating: Existing employees who have put in considerable service may resist the process of filling up vacancies from outside. The feeling that their services have not been recognised by the organisation, forces them to work with less enthusiasm and motivation. Uncertainty: There is no guarantee that the organisation, ultimately, will be able to hire the services of suitable candidates. It may end up hiring someone who does not ‘fit’ and who may not be able to adjust in the new set-up.

8. 6-8 Methods Of Recruitment Internal methods • Promotions and transfers: Promotion is the movement of an employee from a lower level position to a higher level position with increase in salary Transfer, on the other hand, is a lateral movement within the same grade, from one job to another. • Job posting: It is a method of publicising job openings on bulletin boards, electronic media and similar outlets by a company. • Employee referrals: It is a kind of recommendation from a current employee regarding a job applicant.

9. 6-9 Possible benefits and costs of employee referrals • Recommender gives a realistic picture about the job. The applicant can weigh the pros and cons carefully before handing over the CV. The applicant is more likely to accept an offer if one is made and once employed, to have a higher job survival. • It‘s an excellent means of locating potential employees in those hard-to-fill positions. The recommender earns a reward and the company can avoid expensive recruiting search – in case the candidate gets selected. • Recommenders may confuse friendship with job competence. Factors such as bias, nepotism, and eagerness to see their friends in the company may come in the way of hiring a suitable candidate.

10. 6-10 Direct methods • Campus recruitment It is a method of recruiting by visiting and participating in college campuses and their placement centres. Possibly the most popular way of hiring the best brains in the country, this method has to be used with lot of care and caution. Campus hiring, of course, is not easy.

11. 6-11 Common Mistakes made in campus recruiting • Failure to utilise a full-time professional recruiter: Often recruitment is used as a training experience for new employees. This results in rapid turnover in the recruitment office. • The recruiter is not professionally trained in interviewing: Professionally trained as used here means a minimum training period of three days of principles and practices using live interviews that are audio or videotaped and critiqued. • The recruiter does not have the authority to make decisions with regard to hiring: Often this is reserved for the boss, who does not know how to conduct an evaluation interview. • The actual plant visit is mishandled: Recruits are left waiting for scheduled appointments, constant interruptions occur during the visit, arrangements by the institute may not be upto the mark, prior shortlisting of students is not arranged, etc. • The recruiter does not get involved in the development of the new employee: Because the recruiter often has the best rapport with the new employee, he or she should become involved.

12. 6-12 Guidelines for campus recruiting • Shortlist campuses • Choose recruiting team carefully • Pay smartly, not highly • Present a clear image • Do not oversell yourself • Get in early • Not everyone fits the bill

13. 6-13 Indirect methods • Newspaper advertisements • Television and radio advertisements Third party methods • Private employment search firms • Employment exchanges • Gate hiring and contractors • Unsolicited applicants/walk-ins • Internet recruiting

14. 6-14 Alternatives to recruiting Overtime: Short term fluctuations in work volume could best be solved through overtime. The employer benefits because the costs of recruitment, selection and training could be avoided. The employee benefits in the form of higher pay. However, an overworked employee may prove to be less productive and turn out less than optimal performance. Employees may slow down their pace of work during normal working hours in order to earn overtime daily. In course of time, overtime payments become quite routine and if, for any reason, these payments do not accrue regularly, employees become resentful and disgruntled. Subcontracting: To meet a sudden increase in demand for its products and services, the firm may sometimes go for subcontracting – instead of expanding capacities immediately. Expansion becomes a reality only when the firm experiences increased demand for its products for a specified period of time. Meanwhile, the firm can meet increased demand by allowing an outside specialist agency to undertake part of the work, to mutual advantage. Cont…

15. 6-15 Alternatives to recruiting Temporary employees: Employees hired for a limited time to perform a specific job are called temporary employees. They are particularly useful in meeting short term human resource needs. A short term increase in demand could be met by hiring temporary hands from agencies specialising in providing such services. It’s a big business idea in United States these days ($3-$4 billion industry). In this case the firm can avoid the expenses of recruitment and the painful effects of absenteeism, labour turnover, etc. It can also avoid fringe benefits associated with regular employment. However, temporary workers do not remain loyal to the company; they may take more time to adjust and their inexperience may come in the way of maintaining high quality. Employee leasing: Hiring permanent employees of another company who possess certain specialised skills on lease basis to meet short-term requirements – although not popular in India – is another recruiting practice followed by firms in developed countries. In this case, individuals work for the leasing firm as per the leasing agreement/arrangement. Such an arrangement is beneficial to small firms because it avoids expense and problems of personnel administration. Cont…

16. 6-16 Alternatives to recruiting Outsourcing: Any activity in which a firm lacks internal expertise and requires on unbiased opinion can be outsourced. Many businesses have started looking at outsourcing activities relating to recruitment, training, payroll processing, surveys, benchmark studies, statutory compliance etc., more closely, because they do not have the time or expertise to deal with the situation. HR heads are no longer keeping activities like resume management and candidate sourcing in their daily scrutiny. This function is more commonly outsourced when firms are in seasonal business and have cyclical stuffing needs.

17. 6-17 Evaluation of the sources of recruitment • Time lapse data: they show the time lag between the date of requisition for manpower supply from a department to the actual date of filling the vacancies in that department • Yield ratios: they show the number of contacts required to generate a given number of hires at a point of time. • Surveys and studies: they could be carried out to find out the suitability of a particular source for certain positions.

18. 6-18 Recruitment Policies And Procedures A recruitment policy indicates the organisation’s code of conduct in a specific area. Recruitment policy statement In its recruitment activities, the company will: • Advertise all vacancies internally • Reply to every job applicant promptly • Inform job applicants the basic details and job conditions of every job advertised • Process all applications with efficiency and courtesy • Seek candidates on the basis of their qualifications • Aim to ensure that every person invited for interview will be given a fair and thorough hearing Cont…

19. 6-19 Recruitment Policies And Procedures The company will not: • Discriminate unfairly against potential applicants on the basis of sex, race, religion, caste, etc.; • Knowingly make any false or exaggerated claims in its recruitment literature or job advertisements A recruitment procedure will lay down a clear path to be followed by the HR department while hiring people. Of course, the procedures have to be framed in a flexible manner so as to permit the HR department to respond to the requests made by various departments and by potential candidates quickly.

20. 6-20 Questions to be asked while hiring people • Has the vacancy been agreed by a responsible manager? • Is there an up-to-date job description for the vacancy? • What are the conditions of employment for the vacancy (salary, hours of work, fringe benefits, perquisites, holidays, etc.)? • Has a personnel specification/candidate’s profile (in terms of physique, intelligence, aptitude, qualifications experience, etc.) been prepared? • Has a notice of the vacancy been circulated internally? • Has a job advertisement been agreed? Have details of the vacancy been forwarded to relevant agencies? • Do all potential candidates (internal or external) know where to apply and in what form? • What are the arrangements for drawing up a shortlist of candidates? • What about the interviewing dates and arrangements for selection of candidates? • Have the shortlisted candidates or waitlisted candidates been informed sufficiently in advance and asked to furnish detailed references? • Have unsuitable candidates or waitlisted candidates been informed of their position in a polite way thanking them for their interest and attendance?

21. 6-21 Recruitment: Indian Experiences Recruitment of trainees: expectations of Indian companies Pepsi: Pepsi is a flat organisation. There are a maximum of four reporting levels. Executives here emphasise achievement, motivation, the ability to deliver come what may. As the Personnel Manager of Pepsi Foods remarked “we hire people who are capable of growing the business rather than just growing with the business”. Recruitees must be capable of thinking outside the box, cutting the cake of conventional barriers whenever and wherever necessary. They must have a winner’s mindset and a passion for creating a dynamic change. They must have the ability to deal with ambiguity and informality. Cont…

22. 6-22 Recruitment of trainees: expectations of Indian companies Reebok: As Reebok’s customers are young, the company places emphasis on youth. The average age at Reebok is 26 years. Employees are expected to have a passion for the fitness business and reflect the company’s aspirations. Recruitees should be willing to do all kinds of job operations. The willingness to get one’s hands dirty is important. They must also have an ability to cope with informality, a flat organisation and be able to take decisions independently and perform consistently with their clearly defined goals. Indian Hotels: The Taj group expects the job aspirants to stay with the organisation patiently and rise with the company. Employees must be willing to say ‘yes sir’ to anybody. Other criteria include: communication skills, the ability to work long and stressful hours, mobility, attention to personal appearance and assertiveness without aggression.

23. 6-23 Recruiters these days expect B-school graduates to possess certain skills: Skills recruiters want in India 1. Ability to work in a team 2. Analytical and problem solving skills 3. Communication and other soft skills 4. Creativity and resourcefulness 5. Leadership potential 6. General Managerial skills 7. Entrepreneurial skills